At St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, clergy and public honor outgoing Bishop Coleman

FALL RIVER — A third-grader named Thomas was one of hundreds of well-wishers in 2003 who wrote congratulatory notes to George W. Coleman when the late Pope John Paul II appointed him to be Fall River’s seventh bishop.

“I hope you have lots of fun,” the youngster wrote to Coleman, 75, who recalled that message during a special Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated in his honor Tuesday at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral.

“Yes, there has been fun over the past 11 years. But it has been surpassed by ever-deepening joy, resulting from Christ’s invitation to serve the church, particularly this local church of Fall River as priest and bishop,” said Coleman, who is retiring after 11 years as bishop and 50 years as an ordained priest.

Hundreds of diocesan priests, religious sisters in full habits, uniformed Catholic school students, a Knights of Columbus honor guard in full regalia and dozens of other visitors packed the cathedral to honor Coleman, a shepherd with a low-key demeanor who was the second priest from the Diocese of Fall River to be named its bishop.

Among those in attendance Tuesday were Coleman's two immediate predecessors; Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the current archbishop of Boston, and Archbishop Daniel Cronin, who retired in 2003 after leading the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut.

O’Malley, who headed the Diocese of Fall River from 1992 to 2003, credited Coleman — who served as O’Malley’s vicar general — with leading the diocese with a “steady and gentle hand.”

“Bishop George epitomizes the deep pastoral sense of the Fall River priest,” O’Malley said.

Coleman presided over the diocese during difficult times, having to make tough decisions to close several parishes and schools because of declining enrollment and Mass attendance. O’Malley, who was installed as Boston’s archbishop in 2003 during the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal, said a bishop’s job is seldom fun.

“It can be a very lonely task,” O’Malley said.

Last month, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had appointed the Rev. Edgar Moreira da Cunha, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, to succeed Coleman. Da Cunha, 60, the first Brazilian-born Catholic priest to become a bishop in the United States, will be installed as Fall River’s new bishop on Sept. 24.

Before being elevated to bishop, Coleman served for 11 years as pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Sandwich. Prior to that, he directed the Diocesan Department of Education for eight years, overseeing Catholic schools, parish religious education and campus ministry programs. From 1982-85, he served as pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Fall River.

Born in Fall River and having grown up in Somerset, Coleman has deep family roots in the area, which were on display during Tuesday’s Mass. Coleman’s sister, Eileen Keegan, and her two sons presented the gifts of bread and wine during the offertory. Coleman’s nephew, Christopher Keegan, read from St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans.

The choir from Holy Name Parish in Fall River sang throughout the liturgy, which featured the incense and all the pageantry of a High Mass. Besides Coleman, O’Malley and Cronin, there were three other bishops in the sanctuary: Donald Pelletier, a retired La Salette bishop; Manuel da Silva Rodrigues Linda, bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Portugal; and Walter James Edyvean, a retired auxiliary bishop of Boston who attended seminary with Coleman and was ordained with him almost 50 years ago in Rome.

“My heart is filled with gratitude and thanksgiving,” Coleman said, “for God’s goodness to me and to our church of Fall River.”